I'm not sure anybody will read this, since I'm a bit late. However, the term 'superfluous' status flags is a little bit indescriptive. For instance, I find the status flags in Apache::Session to not be superfluous, but then again I'm sure they could be replaced... how do you define superfluous in this case? Are they status flags that lead to mistakes in code logic? Aren't all mistakes in code logic a problem? What 'superfluous status' flags simply aren't mistakes in code logic rather than "Parsimonious Parameterization."

Superfluous status flags are those which can readily be inferred from the rest of an object's state. They denormalize the data structure (in relational database terms) and the additional code required to update them in sync with the actual data violates the Once And Only Once principle.